Primary School Head Teacher 'Bribed Students With Coke And Doughnuts For Secrets'

A primary school head teacher "bullied and intimidated" staff and held "coke and doughnuts" sessions with pupils to encourage them to tell secrets about their teachers, a committee has heard.

The allegations against Deborah Collinson, who worked at Harrowgate Primary School, Stockton-on-Tees between 2000 and 2010, were found proven at a committee hearing in Birmingham last week.

While in charge of the school, Collinson held book reviews where staff were encouraged to criticise their colleagues' work in front of each other and moved staff to different parts of the school as a punishment tactic. She also instructed staff to make life "difficult" for a colleague returning from maternity leave.

Collinson also held "coke and doughnuts" sessions with pupils from the school during which they were encouraged to tell "secrets" about their teachers.

During her time at the school, Collinson also told one teacher she would be "taken down a peg or two". She asked Jennifer Newlove, another member of staff at the school, "Have I made a mistake in employing you? I hope you're not one of those mothers who take time off to be with their children."

The General Teaching Council (GTC) concluded the former head is allowed to continue teaching but barred from ever holding the post of head teacher.

Dr Barbara Hibbert, chair of the committee, said Collinson's behaviour "demonstrated a wholesale disregard for the standards expected of a head teacher".